This page provides a starting point for finding information about the use of asynchronous messaging resources for enterprise applications with WebSphere® Application Server.
WebSphere Application Server supports asynchronous messaging based on the Java Message Service (JMS) and the Java EE Connector Architecture (JCA) specifications, which provide a common way for Java programs (clients and Java EE applications) to create, send, receive, and read asynchronous requests, as messages.
JMS support enables applications to exchange messages asynchronously with other JMS clients by using JMS destinations (queues or topics). Some messaging providers also allow WebSphere Application Server applications to use JMS support to exchange messages asynchronously with non-JMS applications; for example, WebSphere Application Server applications often need to exchange messages with traditional WebSphere MQ applications. Applications can explicitly poll for messages from JMS destinations, or they can use message-driven beans to automatically retrieve messages from JMS destinations without explicitly polling for messages.
WebSphere Application Server supports the following messaging providers:
Applications can use point-to-point and publish/subscribe messaging. These styles of messaging can be used in the following ways: one-way; request and response; one-way and forward.
You can configure any of three main types of Java Message Service (JMS) providers in WebSphere Application Server: The WebSphere Application Server default messaging provider (which uses service integration as the provider), the WebSphere MQ messaging provider (which uses your WebSphere MQ system as the provider) and third-party messaging providers (which use another company's product as the provider).
Use these topics to learn about using the default messaging provider to support the use of the Java Message Service (JMS) by enterprise applications deployed on WebSphere Application Server.
You can enable JMS interaction with a WebSphere MQ network by using the WebSphere MQ messaging provider. Service integration can also provide interoperation through a WebSphere MQ link or a WebSphere MQ server. Each type of connectivity is designed for different situations, and provides different advantages.
WebSphere Application Server supports the use of message-driven beans as asynchronous message consumers.
Applications can use JMS to explicitly poll for messages on a destination, then retrieve messages for processing by business logic beans (enterprise beans).
To provide messaging support on a WebSphere Application Server Version 5 node, there is at most one JMS server and some number of JMS resources configured for the default messaging JMS provider on that node.